This article introduces this special journal issue on climate change impacts on Sierra Nevada water resources and provides a critical summary of major findings and questions that remain open, representing future research opportunities. Some of these questions are long standing, while others emerge from the new research reported in the eight research papers in this special issue. Six of the papers study Eastern Sierra watersheds, which have been under-represented in the recent literature. One of those papers presents hydrologic projections for Owens Valley, benefiting from multi-decadal streamflow records made available by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for hydrologic model calibration. Taken together, the eight research papers present an image of localized climatic and hydrologic specificity that allows few region-wide conclusions. A source of uncertainty across these studies concerns the inability of the (statistically downscaled) global climate model results that were used to adequately project future changes in key processes including (among others) the precipitation distribution with altitude. Greater availability of regional climate model results in the future will provide research opportunities to project altitudinal shifts in snowfall and rainfall, with important implications to snowmelt timing, streamflow temperatures, and the Eastern Sierra's precipitation-shadow effect.

ACCESSION #

84368975

Related Articles

By the end of the 20th century, the onset of spring in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California has been occurring on average three weeks earlier than historic records. Superimposed on this trend is an increase in the presence of highly anomalous â€œextremeâ€ years, where spring...

The impact of summer cattle grazing on water quality during three very different climatic years in the Sierra Nevada was investigated. Water year 2009 had near normal precipitation; 2010 had late precipitation and snowmelt; and 2011 had 150% above normal precipitation. Surface waters were tested...

Water temperature influences the distribution, abundance, and health of aquatic organisms in stream ecosystems, so understanding the impacts of climate warming on stream temperature will help guide management and restoration. This study assesses climate warming impacts on stream temperatures in...

The Angora Fire (summer of 2007) was the largest and most severe wildfire in recent history within the Lake Tahoe basin of the Sierra Nevada. To determine the watershed response and to assess the potential for downstream impacts of nutrient and sediment delivery to Lake Tahoe, we monitored the...

A correction to the article "Climate variability and change in mountain environments: some implications for water resources and water quality in the Sierra Nevada (USA)" that was published in the November 30, 2012 issue is presented.

Hydrologic responses of river basins in the Sierra Nevada of California to historical and future climate variations and changes are assessed by simulating daily streamflow and water-balance responses to simulated climate variations over a continuous 200-yr period. The coupled...

Updates on the status of the Wilderness Society's 'Range of Light' project aimed to create a system of wildland reserves throughout the Sierra Nevada. Partnership with the Trust for Public Land in the Yuba and Rubicon River watersheds; Use of software to help in setting protection priorities.

Chapter 5 of the book "Weather Extremes in the West" is presented. An overview of the weather and climate in the Sierra Nevada region in California and Nevada, as well as the climate graph and climate characteristics of the region are discussed. It highlights several extreme, historic and unique...

Examines minimal climatic control on erosion rates in Sierra Nevada, California. Speculations on the relationship among precipitation, temperature and erosion rates; Usage of cosmogenic nuclides; Measurement of long term erosion rates.